At the pilgrimage site of Kedarnath in northern India, disastrous flooding has led many to ask whether the gods are getting angry about human behavior.
A view of the devastation in Lahaina, Hawaii, following the wildfires in August 2023.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
The region of Maui has been revered by its Indigenous peoples as a sacred place for generations. It is believed to be the home of Kihawahine, a woman who transformed into a goddess.
A Shaligram on top of a bed of small rocks.
Holly Walters
Many Hindus, Buddhists and people who follow the shamanic religion of Bon undertake a pilgrimage each year to northern Nepal to look for Shaligrams, believed to be a manifestation of Lord Vishnu.
Traditional Owner and co-author Clinton Walker.
City of Karratha
Laws in other countries recognise ‘rights of nature’. But even trees sacred to Indigenous Australian communities have no special protection.
The government intends to destroy Djab Wurrung sacred trees and sites to upgrade the Western Highway at the same time as it seeks heritage status for the Eastern Freeway.
Allies Decolonising/gofundme
The Victorian government plans to destroy trees and sites sacred to Djab Warrung people to make way for the Western Highway at the same time as it seeks heritage listing for the Eastern Freeway.
Karnatukul during excavation in 2014, note the square holes dug below the rock walls..
Peter Veth
Jo McDonald, The University of Western Australia et Peter Veth, The University of Western Australia
They were looking to study rock art at a remote desert site but what they found showed people had been using the place almost since the first people arrived in Australia.
People protest the shrinking of Bears Ears National Monument.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Despite the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, passed by the US Congress 40 years ago, Native Americans still struggle to protect public lands where they practice their religions.
Many sacred sites such as temples, and churchyards are havens for biodiversity.
An intricate crop circle spans a diameter of more than 45 metres in a barley field close to Barbury Castle near Wroughton, England, about 130 kilometres west of London, in 2008. The circle is noteworthy for its complexity, representing the first 10 digits of the mathematical constant pi, or 3.141592654.
Lucy Pringle
Crop circles are global phenomena gaining attention as paranormal culture becomes mainstream, along with a hybrid approach that emulates scientific investigation.
Thousands of people, both those within Native American communities and their non-Native allies, felt called to go to Standing Rock. What was the motivation?